Real Wedding: Brittanie + Zach’s Music Inspired Wedding

Happy Monday everyone! Hope you all had a great weekend. It was GORGEOUS here in LA, so the hubby and I took advantage of that and enjoyed the outdoors. :) I’m super excited to share Brittanie + Zach’s wedding today. Zach is a musician and on an international tour right now. Brittanie is joining him and they’re making stops along the way, making the trip part of their honeymoon. :) Their wedding just screams Brittanie + Zach + their love for music. With the most stunning photos from The Last Forty Percent it really is just perfect. Thanks Brittanie for sharing some details into your gorgeous day!

Right off the bat we wanted this wedding to scream Zach and Brittanie, from our processional song to Zach’s Darth Vader cufflinks. We wanted to know that if our guests were lured in blindfolded when the blindfold was removed they would still say “Hey, this must be Britt and Zach’s wedding” before even seeing us. We wanted our guests to feel the love and to see that the purpose of our wedding day was truly the marriage that would follow. We wanted our wedding to be the tangible expression of our lives coming together.

Much of our inspiration came from music. Zach is a musician, we met at a show and music is generally a huge part of our lives. I handcrafted most of the decorations using vintage sheet music. Our flower girl had sheet music petals to drop as she walked down the aisle. The venue we chose was the rooftop of the London Music Hall (a venue Zach has performed at many times.) We had our friends perform a song during the ceremony and we couldn’t decide on a song so our friends composed a “mash-up” of Zach’s song choice and mine. It was truly one of a kind.

We love the look of DIY but we still wanted the wedding to be classic and city. So we took traditional and classic ideas and changed them just a little bit. I bought my dress knowing that I was going to alter it to be one of a kind. I bought it plain white and added the black sash as well as the black flowers. (cut from a $4 H&M headband…heck yeah!) My vintage brooch bouquet was an idea I got from my photographer and it was entirely handmade by my mother. It was probably my favorite design item of the day. She added black feathers at the last minute and we carried the feather theme into the boy’s boutonnières (etsy) and other areas of the wedding. There were no (live) flowers used at the wedding which I love. The bridesmaids carried dried hydrangeas.

I just love these fun (and absolutely GORGEOUS) photos they did in the hotel room before the wedding!

Best moment of the day? We both agree the best moment was the ceremony. We did a first look and going into things I was worried it would take away from the emotion of seeing each other at the ceremony but that was not the case. We have been together almost 5 years and finally hearing the words “husband” and “wife” and “covenant” while standing there together was absolutely surreal. Every time our pastor would say “to be my wife” we would both look at each other with huge eyes as if to say “WHAT? Really? YESSSS”. Seriously I wanted to cheer when I was up there. Several people came up to me after the ceremony and said “the way you were looking at each other, I’ve never seen that look before, I’ve never seen that in anyone’s eyes” It felt like we were all alone up there. After the ceremony we ran out and gave each other the biggest high-five..it was an awesome moment.

Advice for those planning now? I love all the little wedding details as much as the next bride but if I could give any piece of advice it would be to remember the goal. We wanted a marriage and we decided early on that if my dress dragged through a mud puddle, the food all burned, my bouquet fell apart, and the music skipped, as long as I was his wife at the end of the day it would be a HUGE success.

Also, use your resources. We were very inspired by our friends and family. We have such talented people around us and truly wanted our wedding to be a group effort.
Our invites were designed by an artist friend of ours, my boss made all the desserts for the dessert buffet, our friends sang for the ceremony, my mom and bridesmaids made all the favors, My mom designed and made the guestbook. It was so awesome to look around and see how the support, love and talents of our families and friends came together to create our perfect wedding day. Lastly, enjoy your day. I woke up that morning and literally said out loud, “I surrender this day, as of right now it’s out of my hands.” I turned off my phone and had the best day with my friends and family.

We want to thank the Last Forty Percent for their help, ideas and phenomenal photography. Also Green Wedding Shoes for providing me with amazing inspiration throughout this blog. I was a faithful reader throughout my engagement and still check the blog even after our wedding. We’re so honored to be a part of it.

This might be the most beautiful wedding I have seen. The contrast of colors, the originality, and all the handmade touches are just incredible. I am thoroughly impressed by this couple. Their wedding was personal, honest to who they are, and just gorgeous. Wow.

It is all so simple, but on the other hand NOT simple! I’m happy to see a couple who didn’t over-do anything and kept it beautiful, personal, and interesting! I just love the hotel pictures before the ceremony! Great job on everything and congrats on the success of marriage!

Just read some of these comments.. thanks so much for all the love and compliments!
jt – my shoes are black peep toes just from le chateau and ive had them for a couple years, they are already broken in so i wanted to use them. To update them I bought a headband from H&M with flowers on it in a dusty pink color. (its the same headband i used to make the black flowers on my dress) and i cut the flowers off and pinned them on.. ($4 , haha)

My bridemaids dresses are also H&M. They were doing a ton of that matte dusty pink color this summer so i ran with it!

Having original music is awesome. I would love to know the two pieces that were fused together for the ceremony – we provide original piano arrangements of songs for brides and I am always looking for ideas :) x

I’m in love with this wedding! It’s the perfect combination of light blush colors and black, it’s beautiful! I do have a questions- would anyone happen to know where the bridesmaids necklaces are from? I would love to wear one at my wedding!

Killer wedding that exudes the sort of spirit with which my fiance and I are hoping to infuse our own day. Got goosebumps while reading ‘covenant’ — then broke into a giant smile after your high five moment. Thank you so much for sharing!

me again.
the bridesmaids necklaces are from Aldo accessories.. (tones to choose from right now.. go go go)
and the mash up.. you may not know the songs..
one was “my best friend” by Relient K (amazing words for a wedding)
and the other was “The Way I Am” – by Ingrig Michealson. :)
-B

I absolutely love your wedding dress! I have been looking for something like it but haven’t had much luck. I know that the designer is Maggie Sottero, but do you the style number or name of your particular dress? Love it!!!

“Every time our pastor would say “to be my wife” we would both look at each other with huge eyes as if to say “WHAT? Really? YESSSS”. Seriously I wanted to cheer when I was up there. Several people came up to me after the ceremony and said “the way you were looking at each other, I’ve never seen that look before, I’ve never seen that in anyone’s eyes” It felt like we were all alone up there. After the ceremony we ran out and gave each other the biggest high-five..it was an awesome moment.”

I read the above quote and got tears in my eyes as I read it. I am not married yet but that is esactly the way I imagine my finace and I feeling when we say our vows to each other. I have read a lot of these stories, but yours just really touched me in a special way. So I find it incredibly crazy that as I scrolled down I see that you and I will also be sharing the same anniversary. Jesse and I will be getting married on August 27, 2011. It will also be Jesse’s parent’s 40th anniversary. It’s a very special date and we’re happy to share it with them…and you guys too! All the best!

[…] would be a year before we were engaged. I had a dream of being featured on my favourite wedding blog and our wedding totally was! I still read wedding blogs all the time but a couple of years after we […]

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